Giants gone fishing for pitching

Published 4:00 am, Monday, July 10, 1995

ATLANTA - Barry Bonds and Matt Williams weren't the only employees of the San Francisco Giants who arrived in Arlington, Texas, Monday for the 1995 All-Star Game.

General manager Bob Quinn joined them, and not just to watch Hideo Nomo make the best hitters in the American League cry like their National League brethren.

Quinn said he has spoken with "seven to nine" general managers in the last week to discuss possible trades for pitching, and he will meet with some of them over the next couple of days in Texas.

As Quinn was speaking from the press box at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium Sunday night, the Giants were setting themselves up for a big fall. After Terry Mulholland pitched his best game of the year with six shutout innings, and Mark Carreon broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the eighth inning, Rod Beck put two Braves on to start the ninth and surrendered a game-winning homer to Fred McGriff.

The devastating 3-2 defeat sent the Giants into the All-Star break six games behind first-place Colorado in the NL West. While the Braves won their ninth straight, the Giants were swept here for the second time this year and finished their road trip at 2-5.

"This is something we'll have to use as a source of hunger when we get back," manager Dusty Baker said. "This was a big game because we could have started the second half one game under .500 instead of three, and we lost a game in the standings. It hurts you more when you lose three games in three days."

As Mulholland was mowing the Braves down without mercy, Quinn was talking pitching. While he wouldn't say whom he's looking at, he did reveal whom he's not looking at.

"I wouldn't worry about us going after David Cone," he said of the most high-profile pitcher on the block. Quinn's problem is the monetary constraint handcuffing him and other GMs in a season with no labor agreement and decreased attendance.

"If we were to go out to get a pitcher it would have to be a dollar-for-dollar deal," Quinn said. "We're not going to get a $3-4 million pitcher without giving up that much in salary."

Since Quinn can't trade away that much in salary without hurting the team, fans shouldn't expect to see Cone or Bret Saberhagen wearing Giants uniforms anytime soon. When he was kiddingly reminded that he could unload Bonds' salary in a deal with Toronto and get Cone and Joe Carter with a few dollars left over, Quinn laughed and said,

"Thank you. Then I'd have to find someone to give me a job."

Instead, Quinn has to shop for more modestly priced arms who can add consistency, if not pizazz, to a pitching staff that has lost a collective 262 days to injuries.

Quinn's read on the Giants' first half is much like his manager's and players', that given their long list of injuries they're satisfied to still be in the hunt. Where Quinn departs from the others is in his lack of concern for the hitting without Williams.

The Giants are last in the league with a team average of .251, and their scoring average has dropped from 4.88 runs per game to 4.19 since Williams broke his foot on June 3.

"We've scored enough runs to win our share of games, but as so often is the case in baseball, our pitching hasn't always caught up with our hitting," Quinn said.

"Clearly if we could get our offense and our pitching in sync, our offense would be good enough."

Watching Mulholland Sunday had to encourage Quinn.

While the left-hander failed to stop his personal losing streak at six games and win for the first time since May 6, he dominated the Braves, allowing four ground-ball singles and striking out six.

"That was probably the best I've thrown in two years," he said. "My arm felt great, I had a good curve, fastball, slider, and I felt like I could pitch the ball where I wanted to. I actually had fun out there for six innings.

"But the object of the game is to go out there and win the ballgame, not go out there and look good."

For the Giants, looking good is a chore these days.&lt;

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.